The Browns had four players ranked as "blue-chippers." I could only come up with three names -- Barkevious Mingo and offensive tackles Luke Joeckel and Eric Fisher. It's possible the fourth was guard Chance Warmack, although I'm sure they were not going to take a guard at No. 6. The main point was Mingo was on the list.

That's why they rejected an offer from St. Louis to trade down to No. 16 and add a second-round pick. If a blue-chipper remained available, they were not about to make a trade unless it was clearly lopsided in their favor. They didn't think the offer for the Rams' 16th, 46th and 222nd picks were enough to pass on Mingo.

They believe that in Ray Horton's 3-4 defense, they can line Mingo out wider than he played at LSU and take advantage of his speed. They also believe that he's athletic and smart enough to know how to drop into pass coverage. Bottom line: In this defense, they do not believe the switch from a 4-3 college end to a 3-4 outside linebacker will be a big adjustment.

In the third round, they selected Leon McFadden, who started 45 games at San Diego State. They considered him a smart, polished cornerback who can play in several schemes. While McFadden missed the Senior Bowl with a groin injury, he looked strong in several practices and that made an impression -- the Browns already liked him for his college work. Yes, they wish McFadden didn't measure at slightly under 5-10, but they believe he can be a solid player.

The Browns hope McFadden can start, but he has to win the position. They have Joe Haden on one side. Buster Skrine and Chris Owens are the other cornerbacks. They believe Owens showed more what he could do in 2011 (playing 49 percent of the snaps) for Atlanta than in 2012, when he was on the field for only 24 percent. Owens had a concussion last season and also missed time with a hamstring injury. The Browns signed him to a one-year, $1 million deal.

They are very excited about adding receiver Davone Bess. They shuffled some picks with Miami, but didn't lose any. In any discussion of the draft, the Browns say Bess must be mentioned. He's averaged 64 catches over the past five seasons. He has an excellent track record of racking up first downs.

Bess is not a big-play guy or a touchdown maker, but he could become one of Brandon Weeden's best friends on third down. In the past five years, his 130 first-down grabs is second in the NFL. Last season, the Browns ranked 30th in third-down conversion at 31 percent. Bess will help. He also is a respected player who should be a good example for Greg Little, Josh Gordon and Travis Benjamin. Only 27, Bess should have productive seasons to come.

One of the myths surrounding the trade of a fourth-rounder to Pittsburgh (for a third-rounder in 2014) and fifth-rounder to the Colts (for a fourth-rounder in 2014) is that the new front office was using reports from the scouts of the Mike Holmgren/Tom Heckert regime -- and didn't trust the reports. One top operative became angry when I mentioned that, telling me: "We had all the information we needed. We did our homework. The scouts were not an issue when we came to the trades. We just didn't like the players available."

The Browns had a player in the upper level of the fourth round -- not sure who it was -- that they considered a starter. Once that player was picked, they were open to trading the 2013 pick for a better one in 2014. The Steelers made the deal to take Syracuse safety Shamarko Thomas. The Browns considered Thomas to be a T.J. Ward hard-hitting strong safety, and that's not what they needed. They also were a bit worried because he has a history of concussions.

In the fifth round, they saw no one as a starter -- and believed it simply made sense to add two more picks for the 2014 draft -- giving them six in the first four rounds.

Most teams had a third- or fourth-round grade on safety Jamoris Slaughter, picked in the sixth. The reason he dropped was the Achilles injury in Notre Dame's third game of the season. At the very least, they consider him a very good special teams player with the potential to be more.

Dawgs by nature also did a break down of this article. I recommend reading this article.

The Browns’ draft board was arranged alphabetically, which is very unorthodox and can make it difficult to make decisions on the fly. Front office men around the league were buzzing about the unusual board last week. Also noteworthy is that the Browns did not allow the majority of their scouts in the draft room. But they are not the only team that locks out scouts.

The last piece is from Brent Sobleski. Some insight to the draft process.

The Browns' roster also dictated such moves in this year's draft class.

The Browns are the youngest team in the NFL. A quick look at the composition of the roster shows 73 of the 88 players with the team -- or 83-percent of the roster -- are currently 26 years old or younger. Eight of the 15 players older than 26 were recently acquired in free agency or trade. The team will have 36 new faces in the locker room at the start of camp.

One difference between the current regime in Cleveland as opposed to previous incarnations is a willingness to see how prior talent on the roster can develop. Banner and Lombardi want to see how players like quarterback Brandon Weeden, safety Tashaun Gipson, etc. develop under the team's new and experienced coaching staff.

Banner and Lombardi also saw value in acquiring future picks for a class which under initial view is considered much stronger than the past class. Elite talents were lacking this year. Those same assertions won't be made next year.

Here's a list of players that was interviewed, had a workout, or a visit with the team in some fashion. On this list, the only Players the Browns acquired were Mingo and two UDFA's, Staples and Cook.

I like the last article. I was thinking earlier last week that for all the QB talk, I was impressed with the FO not overreacting and taking a QB in the draft, just for the sake if having "their" guy. Banner's ego only shows when he talks about his capabilities of doing his job on a high level. I'm more than ok with that. There is a method to this FO's madness, yet it's also not accompanied by the fire sale aka"every player from the old regime must go." I think our FO has been very pragmatic in their approach to try and make our team better._________________
Every time the Browns start a new QB, a puppy dies!
Adopt-A-Browne: Mike Lombardi
2013 stats...2 head coaches fired, &over 300 cups of coffee served daily to Banner.

I like the last article. I was thinking earlier last week that for all the QB talk, I was impressed with the FO not overreacting and taking a QB in the draft, just for the sake if having "their" guy. Banner's ego only shows when he talks about his capabilities of doing his job on a high level. I'm more than ok with that. There is a method to this FO's madness, yet it's also not accompanied by the fire sale aka"every player from the old regime must go." I think our FO has been very pragmatic in their approach to try and make our team better.

Happy with a wait and see approach for certain positions, especially QB._________________

I had no clue a trade like that was available. Oh man. I'm really hoping Mingo pans out, but it might've been nice to pick up Jarvis Jones, Eifert, or a CB in round 1 and then another guy in the 2nd._________________

One of the myths surrounding the trade of a fourth-rounder to Pittsburgh (for a third-rounder in 2014) and fifth-rounder to the Colts (for a fourth-rounder in 2014) is that the new front office was using reports from the scouts of the Mike Holmgren/Tom Heckert regime -- and didn't trust the reports. One top operative became angry when I mentioned that, telling me: "We had all the information we needed. We did our homework. The scouts were not an issue when we came to the trades. We just didn't like the players available."

The one thing I will say about this is that I don't know that the Steelers make this trade if they weren't certain they were getting a 3rd round Comp pick for Wallace. But in reality, it was a smart trade for both teams. I also don't forsee the concussion history being a problem in the NFL._________________

I also read somewhere that Jamie Collins was the Browns next target as a pass rusher, but I can't find it.

also, going to update the OP with the list of visited players.

I found it interesting of all the players listed in this article by Dawgs by Nature, outside of Mingo, the Browns didn't talk/interview/workout any player we drafted. The Browns did pick up Jermaine Cook (YSU) and Justin Staples (Illinois) as UDFAs._________________2013 First Ballot Recipient of the Joe Blackburn Award

I'm guessing these guys know who they want to take, or are at least hoping for in each round.

How you list them is irrelevant.

This, to me, looks like some folks way of chitting on Lombardi for no reason. The guy was awful previously, but until he does something 'wrong' here, this go around, I see no reason to not at least view things rationally and reasonably._________________

Am I the only one who thinks thats a crap trade offer for the 6th pick? Like really really really bad?

I would have been furious if we made that trade, especially since Star was off the board.

It would have made sense if the Browns had a group of players ranked equally and would've been happy with any of them. As it is, they said (even before the draft) that they had their targeted guy, and if he was there, they were going to take him. Obviously, Mingo was that guy, since the Browns made the pick instantly.

Now it's just a matter of seeing if Mingo was worth it._________________Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.It will happen some day. Not sure when.

I'm guessing these guys know who they want to take, or are at least hoping for in each round.

How you list them is irrelevant.

This, to me, looks like some folks way of chitting on Lombardi for no reason. The guy was awful previously, but until he does something 'wrong' here, this go around, I see no reason to not at least view things rationally and reasonably.

It's not irrelevant, it's organization. I think it matters for the very reasons it got attention in the 1st place - doing it that way may not mean much at the top half of the first round but by the time you're in the 4th & beyond it seems an odd way to keep track of who's where - especially when the picks are flying off the board. It's confusing at best, doesn't take much to see that.

It's also just another little notch in the belt of oddities that is Lombardi.